Joe Biden’s AG Pick

Merrick Garland (Credit Image: Chuck Kennedy for The White House)

Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s attorney general nominee, outlined his priorities to the Senate this week. As attorney general, he would try to grant the Left’s racial wish list and make life worse for anyone who resists.

One of Mr. Garland’s priorities is combating “systemic racism.” As he said in his opening statement: “We do not yet have equal justice. Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, in education, in employment and in the criminal justice system. And they bear the brunt of the harm caused by a pandemic, pollution, and climate change.”

When Republican Sen. John Kennedy asked him to define “systemic racism,” Mr. Garland replied: “I think it is plain to me that there is discrimination and widespread disparate treatment of communities of color and other ethnic minorities in this country. They have a disproportionately lower employment, disproportionately lower home ownership rates, disproportionately lower ability to accumulate wealth.” In other words, every difference in outcome is “systemic racism.” He also said that if he is confirmed, the Justice Department will investigate and prosecute “institutional racism.” Congress may need to pass new laws if “institutional racism” is to be a crime.

Mr. Garland endorsed the concept of “racial equity.” Vice President Kamala Harris explained that equity means “we all end up at the same place,” adding that it is “very different” from equality. This is a radical departure from the traditional goals of equal opportunity and equality under the law.

There’s a big difference between equality and equity. pic.twitter.com/n3XfQyjLNe

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 1, 2020

The attorney general nominee also defended Kristen Clarke, President Biden’s choice to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Miss Clarke argued in 1994 that blacks have “greater mental, physical and spiritual abilities” than whites. Mr. Garland refused to comment on those claims. He instead praised Miss Clarke as “a person of integrity,” calling her “an experienced former line prosecutor of hate crimes and we need somebody like that.”

Mr. Garland blamed “white supremacists,” for the Capitol riot and promised to prosecute them, but he is not very worried about antifa or Black Lives Matter violence. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked if he believed that antifa’s attacks on federal courthouses count as domestic terrorism. Mr. Garland said they were crimes but are not comparable because an attack on an empty courthouse is not interference with a government operation — which is part of the definition of domestic terrorism.

Sen. Hawley asked if he believes “that illegal entry at America’s border should remain a crime?” Mr. Garland replied: “Well, I haven’t thought about that question. I just haven’t thought about that question.”

The attorney general nominee is sure that the DOJ should investigate former president Donald Trump’s migrant detention policies. “I think that the policy was shameful,” he said. “I can’t imagine anything worse than tearing parents from their children.”

Mr. Garland also wants to crack down on alleged police racism through “consent decrees.” Heather Mac Donald says this practice cripples law enforcement: Consent decrees put “police departments under the control of an unelected federal monitor and a federal judge; monitors collected millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded fees while they held police departments to draconian deadlines and mindless paper-pushing mandates for years.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Garland is expected to be confirmed with strong bipartisan support. And we can be sure that during his hearings he was on his best behavior. In office, his bite will be worse than his bark.